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New Books for 7th & 8th Graders
Reading Level: Grades 7-9
The Ng family has a lot of status. Everyone in the family has at least one A or B level Talent (as rated by BERM - the Bureau of Extra-Sensory Regulation and Management.) Everyone except Natalie, the family disappointment. She has one D level Talent...she speaks and understands cat. Natalie does her best to keep classmates from learning of her embarrassing talent, only using it to talk to the family cat in the privacy of her bedroom.
And that's how things remain until the day her friends Oscar and Melly shows her a video of a celebrity blogger being attacked by her own cat. The cat is screaming, " Help me! Hellllpppme! Kill the imposter!"
Against her better judgement, Natalie allows her star-struck friends to drag her into a mystery that involves Chicago, a remake of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and one very cranky pink cat.
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Books by Kimberly Pauley
Other humorous fantasy novels featuring harried heroines include:
Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby
Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough and
Devilish by Maureen Johnson
Other stories of humans who can talk to animals include:
What the Dog Said by Randi Reisfeld
The Exceptionals by Erin Cashman
The Boy Who Spoke Dog by Morgan Clay and
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Reading Level: Grades 7+
The gods bestowed the godstone on Princess Lucero-Elissa de Riqueza on her namiing day. Sixteen years later she has not exibited any of the heroic traits looked for in a chosen one. Elissa is used to being a disappointment. As the obese, untalented younger sister of the beautiful, slim and multitalented Princess Alodia, Elissa is usually the object of pity or scorn. But since her father decided to use his second daughter in a political marriage with King Alejandro there is no way for Elissa to avoid the very public ceremony or the disappointed eyes of her groom.
King Alejandro isn't concered with his new bride's weight or beauty. He needs a chosen one to save his kingdom. After the wedding it becomes apparent that Alejandro is not the only one who wants the bearer of the godstone. Many do and most are willing to kill to control her.
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Books by Rae Carson
Other fantasy tales of teens tangled in prophecy and politics include:
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Graceling by Kristin Cashore and
Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce
Reading Level: Grades 6 - 9
Before the war life spans have been extended to up to 200 years. In order to ensure that the new extreme elderly could support themselves the government made it illegal for anyone under the age of 19 to hold a job. When the spore bombs were launched by the enemy during the war, only children and the elderly had been vaccinated against this man-made plague. As a result the only people left alive in the United States are the Starters (children under 19) and the Enders (adults over 65). Callie and her brother are among the unlucky children who had no living grandparents and are forced to live illegally on the street trying to avoid being swept up into one of the horrible forced labor camps for unclaimed minors. Then Callie hears about The Body Bank, where Enders pay huge fees to possess a Starter's body for a few hours or more via computer chips implanted in the Starter's brain. Callie thinks this is her way out. She only has to rent her body three times and then the big payoff will come. But can it really be that easy?
Reading Level: Grades 5 - 8
For as long as anyone alive can remember Eastam and Westam have been at war; battling for control of The Center. Life is dreary in Waterford City. Everything revolves around the war effort. The best and brightest children are sent to military school at the age of eight. Everyone else's work somehow connects to the war too whether it is making weapons, delivering weapons, or recycling scrapped weapons. But when local war hero Gideon returns to town he and his former neighbor, Tessa, will accidentally discover the truth about the never-ending war.
Reading Level: Grades 8+
16-year-old Lex Bartleby was the perfect daughter, friend and student until she entered middle school. Almost over night she became an angry, disrespectful, violent teenager. Her desperate parents have tried everything...talking, grounding, counseling but nothing has worked. When she is finally expelled from high school, her parents make one desperate effort to save her. Lex is exiled to her mysterious Uncle Mort's farm where she will spend the summer milking cows and feeding pigs...or so her parents think.
When the terrifying biker guy accosts her at the isolated rural bus stop, Lex gets ready to fight for her life and then he calls her name. THIS is Uncle Mort? He is not a farmer but he is a harvester...a harvester of human souls. And he wants Lex to join the family business.
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Books by Gina Damico
Other tales about death and reapers include:
Meridian by Amber Kizer
Mort by Terry Pratchett and
Shadowland by Meg Cabot
19-year-old Khemri is one of millions of princes. All were chosen as babies from across the vast empire. Khemri has been enhanced and trained all his life. He dreams of being the special one...THE prince who will become the one to control the mind of the vast empire.
On the day of his investiture Khemri learns it is much more likely that he will die. For on that day, the assassination attempts begin.
Reading Level: Grades 8+
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Other fast paced space fiction include::
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Reading Level: Grades 7+
Life is hard for 15-year-old Bobby Steele. Especially since he has the same name as his father...the man who made the newspapers when he attacked his wife with a hot iron. Bobby hates sharing his name. Bobby doesn't blame his mother when she walks out on them. He'd walk too if it wasn't for his little brother.
Bobby's name change started as a joke. When he and his friends find an application for a prestigious prep school at an IHop, they make up a kid and submit an application. When that pretend guy, Rowan Pohi, is accepted, the temptation is too great. Bobby decides he needs a new life, anything is better than the one he has.
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Other tales double identities include:
The Mark of Conte by Sonia Levitin
Reading Level: Grades 7+
"Boxing is a dying sport. People aren't much interested anymore. They want easy things, like television, bowling, car rides."
Alfred Brooks wants to be somebody special - a champion. Donatelli assures him that's impossible - first Alfred has to train - train so hard he'll start to feel like it's not worth it, that he should just quit - that he'll never be a fighter at all, let alone a contender. But Alfred is determined, and begins to train, hard. When he's boxing, Alfred doesn't have to think about all the bad stuff going on in his life, it's just him and the ring, nothing going on outside it matters at all. Inside the ring, Alfred can contend with his life.
Reading Level: Grades 7+
Marcelo, a high school junior with a somewhat undefined precise location on the autism spectrum, is wildly looking forward to spending his summer working with the ponies at his school, Paterson. He will be the stable man for the school, and in the fall will be promoted to training the ponies to work with all types of disabled students. Marcelo is really looking forward to his summer and senior year at Paterson.
But his father, Arturo, has other plans. Arturo wants Marcelo to work at Arthuro's law firm, in the mail room - and Arturo wants Marcelo to switch to public school in the fall.
Marcelo is not given much choice about working at the law firm, but he is told that if he spends three summer months working at his father's law firm - in the "real world" - Arturo will let him choose whether to return to Paterson or continue at public school.
For Marcelo, three months in the "real world" sounds incredibly difficult as he does not know all the rules of living in that world. But working at the law firm is what Marcelo will have to do to ensure his return to Paterson, and so he accepts his father's offer.
As Marcelo's summer progresses, he begins to become more comfortable interacting with others, but when he uncovers a disturbing photograph relating to one of his father's big cases, Marcelo is unsure how to proceed.
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More books by Francisco X. Stork
Other books about teens on the autism spectrum:
Mindblind by Jennifer Roy
Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Reading Level: Grades 7+
Life on a reservation isn't great to begin with, but when Arnold (Junior) sees his mother's name written in his geometry textbook, it's the last straw. He flings the book angrily across the classroom... hitting the teacher square in the face.
Realizing that as long as he stayed on the reservation, he was doomed to live a depressing, boring reservation life with no opportunities, Arnold tells his parents he is going to transfer schools - to the all-white, all-rich high school twenty-two miles away.
And so it begins.
Cleverly written, amusingly illustrated, and with wholly rounded characters, Alexie's first young adult novel is deserving of its high praises.
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